


the infinite possible ways to love you

by Meridas



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Mighty Nein as Family, Molly gets the hugs he deserves, Mollymauk Tealeaf Lives, Pre-Relationship, Reunions, The Mighty Nein get their Molly back, post-resurrection, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-05 22:32:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17927606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meridas/pseuds/Meridas
Summary: The Mighty Nein come across a familiar traveler on the road. A lot of hugging and catching-up is in order.





	the infinite possible ways to love you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [steelneena](https://archiveofourown.org/users/steelneena/gifts).



> For Eileen, who wanted soft reunion hugs <3

Molly bites off a thread and gives his latest patch a little tug. It holds nice and firm, a new spot of blue on his jacket. The poor thing’s taken a beating lately, but he’s been working steadily on mending the holes and adding back some color. The pattern of little red flowers on pale blue fabric clashes wonderfully with the dark green embroidery that had been fraying apart. He’s pretty pleased with it.

He stows his sewing away and stands up to stretch. There’s plenty of daylight left, and he feels plenty rested after his little break. It’s been slow going, making his way to Zadash, but with plenty of breaks and the kindness of some strangers, he’s making decent time. Late spring doesn’t feel like a time to rush, anyway. He’s happy to take his time.

The sound of wheels on the road starts growing near. Molly perks up and swirls his coat back over his shoulders, then stoops and grabs his battered backpack. Hopefully, he can hop on a friendly wagon ride, cut off a bit more time from his journey south.

The sun is right in his eyes as the wagon comes around the bend. Molly shades his eyes with one hand, trying to make out the two figures at the front of the cart. Suddenly, one of them stands up, almost toppling out of the cart.

“ _Molly?”_

Molly drops his bag to the ground with a _thump_. “Jester?!”

The figure leaps off the cart and immediately stumbles—she hadn’t even waited for it to come to a stop, leaving... someone he doesn’t recognize pulling at the reins to get the horses to stop. But it doesn’t stop her from scrambling towards him. He sees other heads pop out of the wagon, hears other achingly familiar voices shouting, but Jester hits him like a cannonball and he goes right to the ground under the sheer force on her hug.

“Molly!” she’s shouting, right in his ear, and their horns knock painfully into each other but he wraps his arms around her and squeezes her back with all the strength he has in him.

“It’s me,” he gasps, “it’s me, _gods_ I’ve missed you all, I’ve been _looking_ —”

“Jester!” he hears Fjord’s voice, sharp and uncertain. He pushes Jester’s head aside very gently, lest she’s gotten tangled in his jewelry, and looks up at the gathered Mighty Nein.

“Oh,” he says, and he isn’t ashamed of how his voice breaks. “Hi. It’s so good to see you again.”

“Is that—” Beau steps further forward, her arms up like she can’t decide if she’s ready to punch him or not. He suspects she will, no matter what happens next. “Jester, how do you know it’s really him?” She brings her fists further up. “Jes, stand up, I can punch the truth out of him.”

“ _Why?_ ” Molly yelps, at the same time that Jester wails “ _No it’s him I really know it is!_ ” Molly gives her another squeeze and gets all the air squished out of his lungs in return.

“I’m really me,” he wheezes. “I woke up about a week ago, and the details are a little fuzzy but I had a note?” He glances over Beau’s shoulder, relieved to find Caleb standing with them. “I’m guessing you wrote that for me.”

Caleb clears his throat. “ _Ja_ , I wanted—we thought—” He starts to step forward, but stumbles when a familiar tall woman shoves her way through the cluster the Mighty Nein have made.

“Yasha!” Molly cries, and all at once she’s picked up both him and Jester and is hugging them both like her life depends on it. Molly wiggles free enough to throw an arm around her shoulders and hug her back, feeling his eyes prickle and his throat close up. He presses his face into her shoulder and holds on for dear life. “I missed you,” he whispers.

He feels a weird sensation wash over him, like a spell being cast. It doesn’t hurt, just makes him wriggle a little. Jester releases him from her arms and steps away, though she twines her tail with his and gives a reassuring little tug.

“Molly,” she says, her voice warbling, “just so no one can be a worry-wart or an _asshole_ about it, can you tell us you’re really truly Molly?”

Molly picks his head up from Yasha’s shawl and wipes his face on his sleeve. His toes are still just barely brushing the ground, and Yasha doesn’t seem inclined to set him down. “I’m me,” he says, his voice trembling but passing with ease through the truth spell. “I’m Mollymauk Tealeaf, with the Mighty Nein, and _gods_ have I missed you bastards.”

All of a sudden his knees go out from under him, and it’s a good thing Yasha has a death grip on his waist. He barely saw Nott coming, but her arms are wrapped around his legs and she’s mumbling something to his kneecaps that he can’t make out, but he trusts that it’s nice. Jester beams at him, swishing their linked tails happily though the air.

To Molly’s surprise, it’s Beau who steps in for a hug next. He’s not as shocked when she does, in fact, punch him in the arm first. But it hardly even hurts, and the fact that she presses close up against him and hides her face in his coat says more than words could. He tugs gently at her topknot, then drops his arm around her shoulders. “I’m glad you’re okay, unpleasant one,” he says, and he gets a muffled grunt that's probably swearwords but almost sounds fond.

He feels like his chest is too tight, not just from being squeezed by several very strong women. This feels like _home_ , he feels warm and welcomed and _loved_ and he hugs them all back as tightly as he can. He _missed_ this. He missed all of these wonderful, terrible people, and he missed being with his family. But he’s back now, and of all damned and blessed chances they found him before he’d even really started looking for them. They’ve got a lot of gods between them, and he’s certainly got at least one of them to thank for bringing him back to his family. 

He feels a tug on his lapel, and the girls all protest but they let Fjord drag him away. He can’t help but laugh as Fjord also lifts him off his feet, though he can’t hold him up nearly as long as Yasha. He still gives Molly a good squeeze, and when he pulls back Molly can see his eyes are shining slightly. Fjord clears his throat a couple of times, but can’t seem to find words and instead pulls Molly in for another tight hug. Molly pats him on the back and decides not to give him shit for it. After all, Molly gave up on dry eyes several minutes ago.

Finally he does step away from Fjord, and there’s Caleb, hanging back a bit but looking at him with a small smile on his face.

“Hi,” Molly says, like an idiot. Like an idiot with a crush that _hello_ , is definitely back in full force. Caleb is clean-shaven and sporting a new scarf that brings out his blue eyes, and he seems relaxed and maybe even a bit happy and Molly is _fucked_.

“Welcome back, Mister Mollymauk,” Caleb says, his voice soft but so warm, and before Molly knows it he’s being pulled into the most unexpected hug of them all. He almost freezes up—how could he expect Caleb, of all people, to welcome a hug from him, let alone initiate one? But now he’s being wrapped up in skinny wizard arms and Caleb is very warm and who cares what anyone says, Molly thinks he smells nice. He tucks his face into the crook of Caleb’s shoulder, careful of his horns, and closes his eyes. His heart’s going crazy and he can’t even begin to try to control his tail, but he hopes Jester has the decency to keep his mad crush under wraps for him.

“Good to be back,” he manages to answer, and then he feels a small, furry shape winding around his ankles. He lifts his head at the sound of footsteps, and he can’t help the grin that spreads across his face when he sees his family there.

He reaches out a hand and pulls Yasha back in first. “Everybody get in here,” he calls out, and he loosens his grip on Caleb just in case he’s still as skittish about touch—but Caleb leaves his arms around Molly’s waist and stays, and even gives him a smile that makes Molly’s heart do a little flip in his chest. He feels the girls pile onto him, feels his coat tug around his knees as Nott wiggles her way in, and he’s happily squished and smothered in a mess of bodies and laughs and some tears, words piling up and overlapping each other as several people try to speak at once. Molly puts his face back down in Caleb’s shoulder and laughs, lets it all wash over him and sink into his bones that he’s _home_.

Caleb’s voice breaks through, quiet but close to his ear. “I’ll tell you all about what you’ve missed,” he promises, a little hesitant, but an offer nonetheless. “As much as you want to know.”

Molly straightens up and beams at him. “Thanks,” he whispers back. He sniffs a little, the best kind of overwhelmed, and catches a glimpse of another figure over Caleb’s shoulder, very tall and almost as interestingly colorful as Molly himself is. “Looks like you’ll have plenty to catch me up on. Let’s start with introductions.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [fill you in](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20243980) by [lilysweetdreams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilysweetdreams/pseuds/lilysweetdreams)




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